10 Most Threatened Rivers for Your World Travel Bucket List

According to U.S. scientists, July 2012 was the hottest month in recorded history. Crops have dried up, and most people’s utility bills have shot up. North America’s epic drought has placed a chokehold on the country’s lakes and rivers. The Hudson River, a cherished waterway stretching through New York, has seen its levels drop two feet this year alone. Sadly, the news is even worse in other parts of the world, where environmental changes, human abuse and urban development have left once-thriving rivers mere puddles of their former selves. Here are 10 Threatened Rivers For Your World Travel Bucket List, none of which we’ll recognize for much longer if we don’t find answers to all the years of neglect.

Ganges River (India and Bangladesh)

The Ganges, not only India’s longest river but also one of its most sacred, has come under attacks from a number of different angles. Chemical pollution, sewage dispersal and rising levels of salt are an everyday threat to the 40 million people who live along the river basin and the numerous wildlife species (including the endangered Ganges river dolphin) that also call it home.

Rio Grande River, photo by Jerry R. DeVault via Creative Commons

Rio Grande River (Southwestern United States)

The drought of 2012 has hit America hard, but in the Southwest corner of the country this isn’t anything new. Portions of the Rio Grande have been under drought-like conditions for over two years. Couple that growing dryness with damming and high levels of evaporation and you have yourself a major issue. And if all of that weren’t enough, there’s the issue of the invasive salt cedar, a thirsty evergreen shrub that has literally taken over areas along the fabled river.

Jordan River (Jordan and Israel)

Referenced numerous times in the Bible and still used heavily today, this 156-mile river has been immensely important to the Middle East region for a very long time. It has also been shrinking for nearly as long. Flowing through the Jordan Rift Valley from tributaries at the base of Mount Hermon to Lake Kinneret (a.k.a. the Sea of Galilee) and into the Dead Sea, the river forms the boundary between the country of Jordan and the West Bank. In 1960, the River Jordan’s average flow was about 1,300 million cubic meters per year. But, because of consumption and evaporation, it’s down to roughly 100 million cubic meters today.

Brazil‘s controversial Belo Monte Dam is big in both cost ($13-18 billion by its 2015 completion) and size (11,233 megawatts, making it the third largest dam in the world). And if what 100+ different protesting groups have been saying for the past few years is accurate, it’s going to have a major negative impact on the entire Amazon River Basinas well. Outspoken opposition insists that project lobbyists have not fully considered changing fish migratory routes, the loss of vegetation, or the effects the Belo Monte Dam would have on displaced indigenous cultures such as the Kayapó and Kalapalo.

The Danube (Central Europe)

Many call the Danube the “Amazon of Europe.” That’s for good reason. The vitally important waterway flows through Vienna, Budapest and Belgrade. The winding river also serves as an inexpensive means of commercial shipping. To help with industry, sections of the Danube are being straightened. And while these changes may help boats save shipping time, the alterations are speeding up the clock on the local ecosystem’s demise.

The Endangered Indus River Dolphin, courtesy WWF Pakistan

Indus River (Pakistan, India and China)

It’s been well-documented how pollution of this 450,000-mile river is negatively affecting the local wildlife, particularly the dwindling number of endangered Indus River dolphins. What hasn’t been quite so greatly publicized is the fact that, even though the source of the Indus, the Tibetan Plateau, is melting at an alarming rate, many traditional Pakistani farmers are facing historically low levels of irrigated water. Local government suggests that the best way to adjust to the ongoing climate changes is by adopting water-smart farming techniques.

Potomac River (Mid-Atlantic United States)

Considering what an intricate role the Potomac River has played in American history (the Potomac geographically divided the Union from the Confederacy during the Civil War, and has long sustained life throughout the mining areas of West Virginia), it sure is getting an unfair shake these days. Urban advancements are funneling so much polluted rainwater through the river, which flows just a mile from the White House, that nonprofit advocacy group American Rivers has named the Potomac the nation’s most endangered river of 2012.

Blue Nile Falls, Ethiopia, by Jialiang Gao via Creative Commons

Nile River (Northeast Africa)

The Nile has served as a crucial lifeline for the people of east Africaever since ancient times. Today, the Nile River system provides water to 40% of the massive continent’s people, and that number is steadily growing. The United Nations predicts the population of Sudan and Ethiopia, two nations relying on the Great River for survival, will rise from 208 million to 272 million by 2025. If that proves to be the case, the already-straining Nile may eventually become nearly barren as it passes up through Egypt and trickles into the Mediterranean Sea.

Murray-Darling River Basin (Australia)

Like other rivers on this list, the Murray-Darling is taking major hits from climate change, waste and excessive extraction. However, the 2,097-mile system’s biggest threat swims below the water. The European carp (known derisively as “rabbits of the river,” and listed among the world’s 100 worst invasive species by the IUCN) and Redfin are wrecking all sorts of havoc on Australia’s freshwater ecosystem. The local government is so vehemently opposed to the bottom feeder that it’s actually illegal for fishermen to return carp to the river if they’re ever hooked.

Yangtze River, by Andrew Hitchcock via Creative Commons

Yangtze River (China)

In terms of sheer length, this once-majestic river ranks behind only the Nile and Amazon. But if we were strictly gauging a waterway’s importance to people, it may have no rival. Some 400 million Chinese depend on the Yangtze for their fresh water. Unfortunately, non-sustainable development (12 dams are built, or currently slated for construction, along the river) has ravaged the Yangtze, leading to waste, altered water flow and the elimination of important aquatic life such as the Chinese alligator, finless porpoise, and Southern China catfish (a vital food staple).

For more information on how you can help save the world’s 10 most threatened rivers, visitInternationalRivers.org. –DeMarco Williams

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Agreed. But then we go somewhere like the Peruvian Amazon, which was beautiful and relatively unspoiled, or our local Chattahoochee River (which has been cleaned up considerably by organizations like Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper in recent years), and we see evidence that these trends can be reversed by like-minded individuals joining together to take action. For us, it’s as simple as taking an extra bag with us to the lake and picking up garbage we see on the shore or floating in the water. It may not solve every problem, but it’s a start!

I agree, Caanan. But I think most people in the world, and would want to do something about it if they truly understood the damage our mistreatment is causing. Hopefully raising awareness will eventually lead to action!

Makes me wonder when it’s going to sink in (pun intended) that water is life. Rivers (and all bodies of water) are not just awesome places to see while traveling. If we lose these rivers (and species) we lose far more than just a tourist attraction.

Agreed, Karen! There’s a great documentary called “Tapped” that predicted water will become the world’s #1 most valued commodity in the future, because global warming will make it increasingly scarce. Here in Georgia, where we live, we’ve had droughts every summer for years, and GA, Florida and Alabama fight over rights to the water in one of our reservoirs. What’s funny is, conserving water is one of the easiest things that average person can do at home. We’re looking into getting a rain catchment system at some point: Right now we just have 3 garbage cans under our rain spout…

That’s definitely a HUGE part of what motivates us to write these stories, Brock. I really, truly want to ensure that these amazing landmarks are still around 30 years from now for our grandchildren’s generation to see.

Agreed, Cole! But it’s not like we see these things on the news every day. Mainstream media largely seems to ignore environmental problems (which are more long term in nature) in favor of pressing short term issues such as jobs, gas prices, war, etc. But I believe that leaves an opening for us, as writers, to cover subjects that could prove crucial to the survival of our planet and its myriad species. And you’re right, it’s not that hard to do things like recycle, or work on a Riverkeeper clean-up crew, or conserve water (which often comes from rivers). Every little bit helps…

The more we travel, issues like this become much more apparent than many of the positive aspects. I think it’s having seen so much pollution, so much trash, etc, in so many different places on the planet…ugh.sigh. good on you for pieces like this – we can’t ignore this anymore!

I’ve been thinking about this subject a lot. We, as travel writers/bloggers, spend a considerable amount of time exploring the world and make a good living off doing so. For me personally, I feel an obligation to give something back in an effort to save that world we love to travel, so that we (and our children and their children) can continue to travel it for generations to come. Hopefully our World Travel Bucket List series can help raise awareness and encourage more responsible ecotourism.

Thanks, Cipri! We obviously can’t take credit for the ones in this post, but we do try to ensure that any photos, videos or stories we post convey the immense natural beauty of this amazing world we live in.

I think the thing a lot of people forget is the immense power our planet has to nurture us if only we are responsible enough to nurture it. All it takes is a little knowledge and consciousness of the impact our actions can have, whether positive or negative.

It’s so sad to see all these rivers under threat because of human ignorance. I grew up in Australia where “drought” was such a normal part of our vocabulary and water was really cherished and used sparingly (I still cringe when I see people running faucets at full force). I only hope we’ll all come to our senses before we destroy what precious little there is left!

There’s a difference between these rivers that needs to be noted, though. Some have been damaged purely by pollution and disregard by locals and authorities. But then you’ve got the Australian example of the Murray-Darling where one of the biggest problems has been farmers using the water for their crops. The sad reality is they need the water to produce food for the rest of the country to eat. So a delicate balancing act is needed between the environment and agriculture. And it’s never going to be an easy solution!

Agreed. Because the problems facing our world’s fresh water systems are so diverse, there’s no one solution on offer. But, as global warming and global population increases, chances are it’s only going to get worse if we don’t begin coming up with some ideas for conserving water.

Speaking of endangered rivers, has anyone seen the video featured on the Colorado River (most endangered river 2013)? Fantastic and moving footage by American Rivers.org. It was featured in a recent award they were acknowledged with.

Ganges is a sacred river called by the name of the Goddess. The wife of Shiva, Hindus bathe in the river with her. Residents come to pay homage to their ancestors and to their gods. They are in the water with her ​​hands. Lift it up and let it flow back into the water of the Ganges, she was used for rituals. When loved ones die, they are returned to the river Ganges and the ashes into the river.